Hobby Sports

Today was an interesting day. This is the first time Ive ever had a miserable carp outing and was not upset about it, well up until I snapped my favorite T&T Helix 5WT SW. Thats the second time Ive busted this rod. The first time I snapped the tip by slamming my clouser at it while fishing Newport Bay with Yosh a few years ago. At least that time I was casting to fish. Today on the other hand I broke it retrieving a plastic bag. A PLASTIC BAG!!!! Up until then I was actually having a good time even though I was not hooking up with any fish.

The carp are spawning and have taken to the tules to mate. They are making quite a ruckus and its very entertaining and quite scary at times when youre not ready for it. Its the same feeling when a quail suddenly flushes at your feet after a long day of seeing no birds. It startles you pretty good. I literally saw 100 carp today. Most were thrashing in the tules. Others were chasing others off. I saw a pod of about 6, shoulder to shoulder causing havoc, splashing water everywhere. The fishing was near impossible. Firstly the wind was out of control. The 5wt was quite the chore to cast. Secondly most fish were in the reeds and the garbage, both natural and man made, in the water was excessive. Youd hook up on something almost every other cast. Its was annoying. Not that it mattered as the fish were all tight lipped and refusing even the most perfectly presented fly. There was one giant thrashing about in the center of the water that probably provided me the best opportunity for a catch. Unfortunately he was bit out of casting distance although that did not stop me from trying to get a fly to him. I got in the water in an attempt to give me better casting room. In doing so the muddy ground started to give and I started sink slowly until my wellington boots started to fill with that nasty ass smelling water. I managed a few casts where actually good ones too but he refused all my offerings before I repositioned myself. He was big, may have been as big or bigger than the 9.5lber I caught just a few days ago.

The carp were pretty tolerant of my presence and not nearly as spooky as usual. In fact I had several near my feet before rushing off. I even had one bump my Wellingtons. Eventually I realized that these fish had no interest in eating so I mentally quite fishing although I did throw a line here and there. That is when I should have stopped. I made one cast and got caught up in a plastic bag. Foolishly I yanked it to shore thereby snapping the tip section. GREAT. I guess its off to Marriotts to send it back to T&T.

I just picked up a pair of custom made leather knife sheaths for my Hubertus Small Game Knife and my Boker Bird Knife. Im alittle disappointed that the sheath for the Hubertus is so wide. Id preferred to thinner more inconspicuous knife holder. When I bought the Hubertus earlier this year I looked all over the place for a sheath for it. Unfortunately I could not find one in leather. The current fashion is everything tactical and leather has lost favor. No stores carry it and if they do usually its made in China. No thank you. I really wish this whole tactical craze would just go away and bring back the good old world stuff back. So I looked for a leather maker to make me a custom one, I found one not to far from my house.

Here is a view of what the pouches look like with the flaps open with the knives inside. I chose to have tabs rather than buttons just because I prefer them.

Belt loops are 1.5 inches plenty for my Filson belt I wear while wingshooting.

Each sheath cost me $35. Although Im not too crazy about Hubertus sheath for the cost I cant complain too much.

This morning it was not my intention to hit the water but after some thought I decided to head out. With no pending work I needed to get done, I said what the hell. It was just after 10am when I hit the water. With a somewhat overcast sky and the fact the water was high and murky, I knew it was going to be a rather difficult time. I was still fishing the same line I was yesterday. I really should have used another, that line is simply too old and dirty to cast effectively. I blew a few shots because of it.

I managed to come to a point and I look out in the distance and noticed a retriever in the water ahead with his owner walking on the pathway. Great, I thought to myself that dog just spooked every fish in now. The owner paid little attention to him and when the dog came to me, I greeted it only to be jump on with his wet and muddy body. I screamed out HEY! The owner didnt even acknowledge it and called his dog back. Fucking Asshole. Not only I am wet and cover in putrid black muck, now all the fish upstream and downstream are spooked.

Great, after that I basically called it a day.

I was asked today what I do with the birds I take during the season. I told him I cook them and eat them of course. Wild birds are great. He didnt believe me. What a schmuck. Of course he eats at McDonalds so I wouldnt expect him to understand. I showed him just some things Ive done in the past.

Quail:
Doves

I keep losing good fish!  What the hell is going on?  This afternoon, bored out of my mind I decided to see how my local brown water was fishing.  The water has lowered somewhat but is still off colored more so than Id like it.  Today I stacked the odds against me.  First I dont like fishing the afternoon since the winds create too much ripples and so its hard to sight fish.  Second I fished my Sage TCR 6 weight that is lined with a warmwater bass line.  Way over powered for delicate presentations.  Not to mention its orange.  Bright orange.  Third since I was way too lazy to change the existing tippet, that leader on the line was probably a year old if not more since I dont fish the 6 weight that often.
I spent most of my time trying to find fish.  When I was about give up I decided to hit up an area Ive neglected for a while.  How things have changed.  The islands and tulies have been moved and so it channelizes the water.  Its gin clear, it almost seems as if youre on an English chalk stream.  That is if chalk streams smelt like ass, were loud with traffic noises, devoid of any clean water fish and had water that would make you sterile.  Other than that, yeah, very similar to a English chalk stream.  There were at least 15 large carp in here.  Casting was tough so I moved away from it and approached them from downstream. I had to wade and that didnt help my cause.  They spooked after several casts.  So I moved up and started blind casting into the weeds.  My rod went heavy and at first I thought it to be garbage until I lifted the beast out of the water and exposed its side.  It was at least a 2 pound bass, a pig for this water.  He never fought, he was limp as a Dirk Diggler and just as big.  He got off somehow after I exposed his side.  This month Ive been losing way too many good fish...

That doesnt smell like mud...